If you want to get Republican Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s ear or Democratic Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley?s attention, Green Party candidate Ed Boyd said, it is going to cost you.
“Look at the $500- and $1,000-a-plate fundraising dinners they have,” said Boyd, who doesn?t accept PAC, corporate or union money, and was scheduled to speak at Goucher College Wednesday night. “The average person can?t afford a seat at those things.”
Walking from his Mount Vernon apartment to the Lexington Market subway stop on his way to work for a private, minority-owned employment agency, the 44-year old candidate is definitely approachable.
“We raise a dollar here or there through contributions,” Boyd said, “but we do it the old-fashioned way, knocking on doors and speaking where we can to get the word out.”
Raised in a working-class district in Miami, Boyd has a background relevant to challenges facing many Marylanders and Baltimoreans. He says he made $14,000 working last year and gets by with his military disability check. He served eight years in the Navy before being discharged because of a leg injury.
“I know what it?s like to struggle to balance your checkbook,” Boyd said. “And I?m concerned about this [Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.] rate increase. I?m concerned about my neighbors, too. How many are going to become homeless because they can?t afford to pay the utility bills?”
Boyd was homeless himself for two years in Washington after leaving the service and became active politically with homeless advocate Mitch Snyder at the Community for Creative Non-Violence. Boyd also worked at the Maryland Center for Veterans Education. He is pro-union, pro-public education and supports a living wage law. He supports prison reform, seeking treatment, not incarceration, for minor drug offenders.
“We need to get at the root cause of crime,” Boyd said, “not start people on a cycle where they become a hardened criminal.”
Boyd stakes out a clear antiwar position and chided Ehrlich and O?Malley for not speaking out on national issues.
“A large percentage of our troops in Iraq are Maryland National Guard,” Boyd said. “Why are they there protecting oil wells when we need them here protecting us in case of an emergency?”
